


well this is just a simple song

by dizzyondreams



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, aged up characters like early twenties??, eren is an indie prick, making out in dirty alleyways + being trash kids, musician!eren
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-23
Updated: 2014-06-23
Packaged: 2018-02-05 20:24:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1831111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dizzyondreams/pseuds/dizzyondreams
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jean goes to a bar for a much-needed distraction but ends up getting more than he bargained for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	well this is just a simple song

The lights of the bar were dim, intimate. Neon beer signs shone garishly through the darkness of the floor space, the stage lit in a warm, yellow glow.

Jean was nursing his second beer of the night, eyes unfocused on the empty stage and his friend’s voices like static in his ears. When Marco leaned across the table to nudge him, he jumped and refocused, the noise of the bar flowing back in suddenly.

“What?” He asked, Marco’s face half-lit by the lights of the stage. He looked worried, eyebrows furrowed and lips down-turned. Jean felt immediately guilty. “Sorry.”

“Zoning out again.” Marco said, giving him a small smile and raising his beer to his lips. Jean shrugged and took a drink of his own, running his hand absently through his hair before dropping to the sticky tabletop. Connie, who was sitting next to him, slapped him on the shoulder with a laugh.

“Lighten up! Everyone gets dumped,” Jean scowled at this, casting a glance to the way Sasha was perched on his lap. They’d been together since before the womb, probably, so Connie was in no position to give Jean break-up advice. “Now it’s time for the rebound!” He slapped Jean on the shoulder again, and Jean wondered what had possessed him to think this was a good idea.

“Yeah, yeah.” He mumbled, slumping back in his seat and taking another drink. He hoped to god the guy they’d come to see would be on soon and finish up his set quickly so Jean could go home and wallow on the sofa. Marco wouldn’t disturb him, this was all Connie and Sasha’s idea anyway. He patted the pockets of his jacket, an old denim that was fraying at the elbows and cuffs, looking for the familiar lump of his cigarettes.

“I’m gonna go for a smoke.” He muttered, standing, digging in his pockets for a lighter. They all blinked up at him owlishly, as if they were thinking of coming with him. Jean gritted his teeth. “Alone.” They deflated, and Jean rolled his eyes before leaving the bar through the fire door and out into the narrow alley beyond.

This bar was a regular haunt of Jean, Marco, Sasha and Connie. They came here most weekends, knew the staff and the other regulars. Jean always smoked in the little alleyway out back, because he knew that it was almost always empty (apart from the occasional dish washer having a sneaky joint in his breaks). It was about as gross as you’d expect of an alley behind a bar, the floor littered with cigarette butts, a dim fluorescent lamp buzzing over the fire exit door, the general smell of garbage. It was dark, close and seedy, and just what Jean needed on a night like this. He leant against the wall and lit up, sighing out a cloud of smoke and coughing in surprise when a voice came out of the darkness next to him.

“Can I bum one? Just dropped my last in a puddle of very suspicious water.”

Jean almost dropped his own cigarette in surprise. He hadn’t been expecting anyone out here, especially someone lurking around in the shadows. He coughed and thumped his chest, glaring at the faint outline of the person to his left.

“Maybe if you stop standing in the dark like you’re gonna knife me.” He said grudgingly, fumbling in his pockets for his cigarettes. The speaker laughed and moved forward into the flickering glow of the lamp, and Jean’s hands froze in their search. 

The speaker was olive-skinned and lean, a mass of dark brown hair falling into green eyes made darker by the dim alleyway. Swimming inside a sweater two sizes too big for him, fraying and the cuffs and collar. Big eyes. Cute little turned up nose - complete baby face. Jean stared, mouth slightly open. The guy rocked back on his heels, hands stuffed in his pockets.

“So?” He prompted, breaking Jean out of his reverie. He nodded jerkily, extracting a cigarette and holding it out. The guy grinned at him and took it, muttering a heartfelt thanks as he lit up.

They smoked in silence for a minute, or at least, the guy next to him did. Jean mostly stared down at his shoes, cigarette burning down between his fingers. He’d never met anyone who a first glance at made him feel like he’d been kicked in the stomach, to say the least. He glanced over to find the guy looking at him with a thoughtful expression on his face. He took a drag, the cherry lighting his face in a warm orange glow before subsiding as he exhaled smoke into the space between them. Jean was certain this was divine intervention. Karma, for that time he’d lent Connie is car, or that time he’d quit smoking for a week. Either way, some god had delivered unto him a very cute boy and a very dark alley, approximately two weeks after a bad break up. Jean swallowed.

“I’m Jean.” He said, leaning one shoulder against the wall and ashing onto the floor, more to avoid the other guy’s gaze than anything. He had this unsettlingly focused laser glare, like he was weighing Jean up or something.

“Eren.” He said, and extended a hand that Jean took after a moment of surprised hesitation. They shook, and Jean dropped his hand back to his side embarrassedly. “You come here a lot?” Eren asked, looking up at him through his hair. He was a little shorter than Jean, but Jean had always liked guys shorter than him. It was hard to find guys _taller_ than him, truthfully.

“Uh, yeah.” He said, realising he’d gotten distracted. “My friends and I are almost always here.” He laughed, and wondered if that sounded kind of lame. It was hard to find a good place in such a small town.

Eren laughed along with him, smoke streaming from his nose as he flicked his gaze up to Jean again. Jean cleared his throat and stared at the floor, kicked a couple of cigarette butts around. 

“You got the time?” Eren mumbled, putting his cigarette out against the wall and letting it drop to the floor. He leaned forward into Jean’s space as he pulled his phone out, the screen flashing too bright in the darkness of the alley. Eren squinted, screwing up his pretty face at the bright light.

“I’ve got five minutes.” He announced, not leaning out of Jean’s space even after Jean had tucked his phone away.

“Five minutes ‘till what?” Jean asked, trying not to get hopeful at the way Eren’s eyes were lingering on his mouth. Eren shook his head and waved a hand.

“Not important.” He said firmly. Jean nodded slowly, gaze zeroed in on Eren’s pouty prettyboy lips. Eren laughed, showing endearingly crooked eye teeth, and tugged on the front of Jean’s jacket with a muttered, “Fuck it.”

Jean made a surprised noise as Eren’s lips connected with his, and barely gave himself a second of triumphant exclamations in his head before he was cupping Eren’s jaw and tilting his head back to deepen the kiss. _This_ was what he needed to get over a shitty ex. Not his friends being careful and careless, respectively. Not getting drunk or wallowing in bed. He needed a pretty boy’s tongue in his mouth and his teeth grazing over his lips.

“I don’t normally do this.” Eren said, a little breathless, as Jean pressed him against the wall to bite at his neck, flick his tongue over his pulse point. Eren went a little limp against him and sighed. “I’m not regretting it though.” He said conversationally. Jean huffed out a little laugh against his throat.

“Me too.” He said, and captured Eren’s lips in a hard kiss that he returned enthusiastically. 

God, Eren kissed like he had something to _prove_. Jean was lucky he still had his lips and neck intact when Eren pushed him away suddenly, a steady hand on Jean’s chest and a look of apology in his eyes.

“I gotta go.” He said, grimacing. “Sorry.”

Jean took a step back dumbly as Eren wiggled out of the space between Jean’s chest and the wall, mouth ajar. “Wait, can I -” Eren opened the fire exit door and disappeared with a hasty wave. “Get your number.” Jean finished, staring after Eren. He scowled, “Mother _fucker_.”, and kicked at the wall just because he was feeling childish and dramatic. His neck stung where Eren had bit him, and he pressed his fingers to the spot, scowling at the floor.

He gave himself ten minutes to compose himself and smoke another cigarette, since his had been dropped when Eren had grabbed him (and mostly to get the taste of Eren out of his mouth - Jacks and cola) before heading back in. He went to the toilet and inspected his neck in the mirror, frowning at the pink marks already deepening to red. With a sigh, he pulled his collar up and hoped it was dark enough that his friends wouldn’t see. He literally wouldn’t hear the end of it if they did.

There were a couple of guys setting up amps and a mic when he returned to the table after buying another beer at the bar. Marco gave him a worried smile, and Sasha leaned past Connie to speak.

“You were gone for _ages_.” She said, then laughed. She sounded a little tipsy, and probably was if the array of glasses on the table were anything to go by. “Did you hook up or something?”

Jean was glad that the lighting was too low for her to see his face flush, and muttered something about contact lenses into his beer. Sasha hummed and then made an excited little noise as a loud burst of feedback came from the stage, prompting a couple of people around them to curse.

“Sasha’s got a crush on this dude.” Connie muttered to Jean, and cried out in mock pain when Sasha punched him in the chest.

“I do _not_.” She shot back, holding her fist up warningly, Connie laughing and holding his hands out in front of him. Jean smiled grudgingly before turning his attention back to the stage. And froze.

“Motherfucker.” He muttered in surprise, eyes wide as fucking _Eren_ from the alley caught his eye and gave him a cocky smile from his seat on the stage. He looked good up there, comfortable and confident under the lights. A lot better than he’d looked in the dark, anyway. If Jean had known just how good Eren looked in the light, he’d probably have tried harder to get his number. Jean shook his head in disbelief, and Eren smirked and looked away, focused on tuning his acoustic. 

“You know him?” Marco asked, leaning across the table a little. Jean cursed himself for being so obviously surprised by Eren’s appearance, and shrugged and shook his head.

“Never seen him before in my life.” He said firmly, and turned back to the stage with his ears burning from his lie. He could still feel Marco’s gaze on him, but kept his gaze resolutely on Eren.

Eren was speaking into the microphone now, plugging his new album or whatever. Jean couldn’t believe his tongue had been down this guy’s throat not twenty minutes ago. He rolled his eyes at himself. Un-fucking-believable.

“Uh, this one’s a cover since like, 99% of you probably don’t know any of my original stuff.” Eren said with a laugh, low and husky. Internally, Jean groaned. He wondered if Eren would be up for coming home with him tonight as a welcome rebound fuck. Jean had a major weakness for indie musician types, especially if they were pricks with a nice laugh. Judging by the shit-eating smirk Eren threw his way, he was a prick. Jean could not be more fucked if he tried.

“Okay,” Eren said, gaze on his guitar, “This one’s Simple Song.” He cleared his throat and closed his eyes - Jean rolled his eyes again - before launching into the first few notes of the song.

“Ooh, The Shins.” Sasha breathed. “I love this song.”

“Who doesn’t?” Jean sniped back, then felt guilty for taking his frustration out on Sasha. Thankfully, she was used to him, and just stuck her tongue out at him.

Eren’s voice was just. Good. So good. Raspy and kinda off-key at some parts, but not in an unpleasant way. Low and smoky, like how he’d imagine whisky would sound. Jean sat there for a full thirty minutes with his mouth half open and his eyes fixed on the figure onstage. He finished up with a thank you and another smirk thrown Jean’s way, and exited the stage to scattered applause and loud whoops from Connie and Sasha. At that, he turned their way and gave them a real grin, eyes crinkling at the corners. Jean was afraid that his eyes were gonna fall out if he rolled them any more.

They left not long after, Marco and Sasha complaining about morning classes, Connie lording it over them that he could lie in. Jean twitchy, looking out for a mop of dark hair as they left the bar.

“Hey, isn’t that the singer guy?” Marco said, surprised, pointing covertly to where Eren was leaning against the wall, smoking. Jean ignored the little jump in his chest at the sight of him, and twitched when Eren spotted them, raising his hand to wave.

“Jean!” He called, and beckoned to him, the cherry of his cigarette leaving an orange trail through the dark. Jean winced and snuck a glance at his friends, who were looking at him with matching bemused expressions.

“You _do_ know him.” Connie said smugly, folding his arms. Down the street, Eren was waiting, looking expectant. Jean grunted.

“Lent him a smoke in the alley.” He mumbled, bringing his shoulders up a little. “Don’t wait up, yeah?” He shot them a half-assed smile that was met with three blank looks. He flushed. “Guys. Seriously.” He raised his eyebrows, praying they’d get the _hint_.

It was Sasha who caught on first, throwing Jean a delighted grin before grabbing Marco and Connie and yanking them around, dragging them in the direction of their flat. “Got you!” She called over her shoulder. “Have fun!” She sang, and Jean rubbed a tired hand over his face. God, embarrassing. He turned back to Eren, who was regarding him with an amused expression. When Jean came to join him against the wall, he smirked and gestured after Marco, Connie and Sasha’s retreating backs. “Those your friends?”

“Yeah.” Jean said, looking at his feet. “Nice set.” He mumbled, for lack of anything better to say. What else could he say? ‘You’re a good kisser, wanna do it again but maybe horizontal and not in a gross alleyway?’ Jean was terrible with words.

“Thanks, man.” Eren said, sounding a lot more genuine. Jean glanced his way, and was hit by the full force of that smile. He cleared his throat and nodded, staring off down the street. “You should come hear me play another time.” Eren said, bumping his shoulder against Jean’s.

“Yeah, that’d be cool.” He mumbled, and turned so he was leaning against the wall, looking down on Eren a little, boxing him in. Eren’s eyes flicked over him quickly, and his grin faded into something a little more dark.

“So, you wanna get out of here?” Eren muttered, taking a step closer and tilting his head back to meet Jean’s gaze. It was better lit out front, and Jean could see a light dusting of summer freckles across the bridge of Eren’s nose. He swallowed, and nodded.

“I’d like that.” He said unintelligently, and laughed when Eren did, leaning into Jean’s chest a little. 

“You’re a man of few words.” Eren said lighting, putting a steady hand on Jean’s waist and pulling him closer. Jean brought his hands to slide into Eren’s tangle of hair, fingers finding actual tiny _braids_ twisted into the underside. God, he’d struck gold with the indie prick shit. 

“I am a man of many words.” Jean retorted. “You’ve not found me at my best tonight.”

Eren pouted over exaggeratedly, and Jean tilted his face up to finally kiss him, a hot, slow slide of tongues that was just as good as it had been earlier. Better, maybe, after hearing him sing and seeing him under the lights.

“Let’s go back to mine.” Eren murmured, breaking the kiss with a little smile and a step back. He jerked his thumb towards a beat up car parked on the kerb. “You can help me unload my equipment.” He said teasingly, and pulled Jean in for another kiss before he could retort. 

Even if it meant lugging a heavy amp up four flights of stairs (which he did) Jean wouldn’t refuse it. He twisted his fingers in Eren’s hair and kissed him breathless, standing outside in the street past midnight. _Best rebound ever_ , he thought, as he piled into the car after Eren.

**Author's Note:**

> this was an anon prompt that i used very very loosely in order to write completely self indulgent musician au tbh
> 
> also title from simple song by the shins aka the number 1 erejean song of all time i'm gay
> 
> pls point out any mistakes it's 2am and i'm tired as hell


End file.
